A rather new business trend concerns social responsible or ethical marketing. Instead of just selling products and brands it makes professional sense to “bundle” or associate the purchase of a product with some altruist activity. While the market share of ethical subcategories in most countries is still confined to a few percentages of the total market at best, it appears that the segment will grow during the next decade. The increased interest for sustainability is found within many western societies both within the business community, academic circles, the political system and among plain consumers. Up to now relatively few empirical studies have focused on the topic. The present study is based on a large scale panel study and uses the German coffee market for profiling the consumer of faire trade coffee and analyzes how this consumer differs from the mainstream consumer. Also, we explore why some consumers intend to buy fair trade coffee but do not purchase the product (and vice versa). Several interesting findings are revealed. Implications for promotion of fair trade coffee are discussed and suggestions for further research are addressed.

The present study is based on a large scale panel survey and uses the German market for profiling
the consumer of ecological margarine. We analyze how this consumer differs from the mainstream
consumer. Consumers of ecological margarine are categorized as light- , medium-, heavy-users and
loyalists. Also, we explore why some consumers - when being asked - intend to buy ecological
margarine but do not purchase the product (and vice versa). A cluster analysis of non-purchasers of
ecological margarine shows at least one sizeable cluster of non-purchasers possess views on ecostatements
that are more eco-prone than loyal purchasers of eco-margarine. Several other interesting
findings are revealed. Implications for promotion of ecological margarine are discussed (not in the
present draft but at the conference).

Files in this item: 1

The self-generated validity theory (Feldman and Lynch 1988) uses the following arguments: First, re-existing intentions may become more accessible in memory when the researcher asks the question. The measurement process thereby leads survey respondents to form judgments that they otherwise would not access in their memory or that they otherwise would not form. Second, higher relative accessibility of intentions, compared with other inputs for purchase decisions may make subsequent purchase behavior more consistent with prior intentions. A couple of studies provide support of the self-generated validity theory for public opinion (Simmons, Bickart, and Lynch 1993) and marketing research (Fitzsimons and Morwitz 1996; Morwitz and Fitzsimons 2004; Morwitz, Johnson, and Schmittlein 1993). While the self-generated validity theory may apply for high involvement products it does not seem to affect moderate and low involvement product categories.